1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to photographic accessories and more particularly to accessories for turning film processing containers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In photography, photographic film is often processed by placing exposed film in special containers with developing or fixing agents and agitating the solutions from time to time to enhance the reduction of the light-exposed silver halide grains on the film. In many applications, especially in noncommercial processing, or in applications which require hand processing, photographic film is threaded onto wire racks so that the entire film surface is exposed to the chemical agent without contact with any other part of the film. In such applications, for example, developing agents are introduced into the container and at intervals ranging from 30 seconds to several minutes, depending upon the process, the container is inverted or agitated to redistribute the chemical solution within the container. The present invention is designed to enhance the processing of film in these applications by providing an electromechanical apparatus for periodically flipping a film processing container about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the container.
Film developing devices are known which impart motion to film processing containers to mix or redistribute the chemical agents therein. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,682,080 and 3,804,379, issued to Merz, for example, disclose such devices. The devices disclosed in these patents illustrate a film processing apparatus which imparts a combined rotary and rocking motion to the film processing container. Such devices, however, do not teach a mechanical means for flipping a developing container about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the container, which provides greater agitation for the developing and fixing processes than rotation about the axis of the container.
Other devices, such as manually powered mixers, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,788,901 to Wilson; 1,917,119 to Holmquist; and 2,110,970 to Cravaritis, rotate containers about an axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation. None of these references, however, suggest applications to film processing, and, moreover, none use a time delay electromechanical apparatus for automatically flipping the film processing container.
Accordingly, a need arises for a device for electromechanically flipping a film processing container about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the container at periodic intervals.